The Weekend Review: Terence Crawford isn’t messing around

IN what will go down as one of the defining performances of his career, Terence Crawford became undisputed super-lightweight champion by knocking out Julius Indongo inside three rounds.

Not only did the unbeaten Omaha native become men’s boxing’s first four-belt holder since 2005, he wrecked an undefeated opponent who many felt would give him at least some problems. Indongo was no pushover – he had dethroned both Eduard Troyanovsky and Ricky Burns, both on away turf. The ease with which Crawford despatched of him is what marks this out as a special win.

The body shot he finished Indongo with was, quite literally, breath-taking and few though ‘Bud’ would notch such an early and emphatic win against a fellow unified champion.

Now, many are dubbing the American as Andre Ward’s closest rival for the pound-for-pound throne. He is one of boxing’s most active elite-level fighters and if he moves to 147lbs and wreaks havoc there, he could soon depose Ward.

Oleksandr Gvozdyk is on the title charge

On the Crawford-Indongo undercard, unbeaten light-heavyweight contender Oleksandr Gvozdyk continued his route to a title shot as he stopped Craig Baker in six rounds.

Though Baker was a step down for the Ukrainian, the win provided Gvozdyk with needed exposure and kept him active as he attempts to close down on a mandated shot at division leader and unified champion Andre Ward.

It was not Gvozdyk’s most impressive or explosive win – he seemed to take his time – but another stoppage win won’t hurt and he is highly ranked by several organisations.

We’ll soon see the true extent of Anthony Joshua’s star power

WITH Wladimir Klitschko’s retirement, unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua must now look elsewhere for an opponent. The unbeaten Londoner admits than he is “disappointed” about Klitschko hanging them up instead of facing him in a rematch.

A return, potentially in Las Vegas, would have been huge. Now, Joshua is looking at a lesser event – though it will still be a very big one, given his star power in the UK. He is one of this country’s biggest sport stars, and he hopes to fight at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff later this year.

His opponent looks set to be IBF mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev – an excellent challenge for Joshua, but the Bulgarian is virtually unknown to the more casual fans who flock to Joshua fights. Such a contest should show us just how popular Joshua is – there’s every chance he could sell out the Principality against a fighter with a very low profile.